EAST COAST As Isabel hits N.C., flooding fears rise

Pa. officials are urging residents to be ready.
ATLANTIC BEACH, N.C. (AP) -- The outer rings of a weakened but still potent Hurricane Isabel began lashing the North Carolina coast early today with gusting winds, while already rain-soaked areas as far away as Pennsylvania prepared for possibly ruinous flooding.
The Category 2 storm was expected to slam the Outer Banks by midday with 105 mph winds and storm surges of up to 11 feet, which could be magnified by early afternoon high tide. Forecasters were worried that, as with Floyd in 1999, the worst damage could come from flooding far inland.
Most of the barrier islands were nearly empty early today as rain from Isabel's first squalls began falling strongly at a 45-degree angle, low-lying streets started taking on water and gusts bent trees with 60 mph gusts.
More than 300,000 people in North Carolina and Virginia were urged to move to higher ground. Even seasoned storm veterans succumbed to the five days of warnings that started when Isabel was a Category 5 leviathan with 160 mph winds.
Ignoring evacuation orders
But a few thousand hardy -- or foolhardy -- souls ignored mandatory evacuation orders and remained to see if Isabel would shatter North Carolina's "Crystal Coast."
At Howard's Pub on isolated Ocracoke Island, bartender James Tucker said he and five other employees resolved early today to "hang out and drink beer until the cable runs out."
The tourists, he said, were all gone. That's good, said the 13-year-island-resident: Rookies tend to get scared.
A hurricane warning remained in effect from Cape Fear in southern North Carolina to the Virginia-Maryland line. To the north, a tropical-storm warning was extended eastward from Sandy Hook in New Jersey to parts of New York's Long Island.
At 5 a.m. EDT, Isabel was about 155 miles south-southeast of North Carolina's Cape Hatteras. It had picked up speed, moving northwest at around 14 mph. It's expected to stay at a similar strength as it moves closer to land and could spawn isolated tornadoes in eastern North Carolina and southeastern Virginia. Forecasters said Isabel's remnants could hit Quebec by Saturday.
Forecasters said hurricane-force winds were expected to last 10 to 12 hours as the massive storm moves in, and Isabel was expected to maintain its status as a hurricane for about 24 hours after landfall. It was expected to move north through North Carolina into eastern Virginia and then take a path into eastern Pennsylvania and over Lake Erie before dissipating in Canada by Saturday.
AccuWeather Inc. said Wednesday that the storm's northwest track, hitting North Carolina's angled coastline with a direct punch, will have the effect of pushing water toward the mainland, producing 12-foot storm surges and waves up to 40 feet high off the Virginia capes.
"This is probably going to ram right into the coast head-on," said Kerry Schwindenhammer, a meteorologist with the State College, Pa.-based forecasting firm. "It's not a case of a glancing blow."
Closing down
In the nation's capital, federal and district offices were ordered closed, and Congress canceled votes so members could return home. Bus and subway service there was to be suspended this morning as a precaution.
The Air Force moved one of the jumbo 747s known as Air Force One from Andrews Air Force Base, Md., to Robins Air Force Base in Warner Robins, Ga., said White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan. A 757 sometimes used by the president was also flown to Georgia as a precaution, she said.
Isabel's path covers an area from the Carolinas to the fields of Pennsylvania and the hollows of West Virginia -- one that has witnessed one of the rainiest summers in years. More than 9 inches of rain was forecast for parts of Pennsylvania, and National Hurricane Center director Max Mayfield said heavy rain could extend all the way to New England.
Gov. Bob Wise declared a state of emergency for all of West Virginia, anticipating heavy flooding in the Potomac River basin. Up to a foot of rain was possible in Morgan County.
Delaware Gov. Ruth Ann Minner also declared a state of emergency, saying she was particularly concerned about northern communities that flooded Monday. About 8,000 people, mostly coastal residents, were ordered to leave.
Situation in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania officials said the ground is so sodden that it would take as little as 2 to 4 inches of rain to cause rivers and creeks to spill their banks.
Dave Cubbison, deputy director of the county Department of Emergency Services. He said school officials would decide early Friday whether to alter schedules because of the storm.
"I'm asking [the public] on Thursday night to sleep with one eye open, if it's possible. Set their alarms to wake up in the middle of the night to check their basements. If your house floods on a normal basis with 2 inches of rain, those people need to ... go to a neighbor or another family member's house," he said.
John and Rita Razze's home in Chadds Ford, Pa., was flooded with several inches of water when rain earlier this week caused the nearby Brandywine River to overflow. Now, with everything pumped out and cleaned up, John Razze worried that the ground would be unable to absorb any of Isabel's rain.
"Usually we stay here and wait it out," said Razze, who left work early Wednesday to move his heater and anything else he could carry to the second floor. "This time, we're going to get the heck out of here."
At historical Jamestown, Va., archaeologists blanketed a dig of the first permanent English settlement in America with a tarp and anchored it with sandbags. More than 500,000 artifacts from Jamestown Island are stored in a storm-proof vault.
In Kill Devil Hills, N.C., museum curators prepared to move artifacts and photographs collected for the centennial celebration of the Wright brothers' first flight.
In the middle of Chesapeake Bay, most of the 295 residents of Maryland's Smith Island packed up and left for the mainland, but 50 to 60 stayed behind.
"I've been here 65 years. I've never left for one yet," waterman Eddie Evans, 65, said as he sat on his dock after tying down his crab pots. "I was here for Hazel when the eye came right over the island."
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